Tlw Johnstown Ifcmocrtt.
PUBLISHED EVKKV
FRIDAY MORNING,
No. 138 FRANKLIN STREET,
JOIINSOnH, CAMBRIA CO., PA.
TERMS—SI.no per year, payable In advance ;
eHJislde tlie county, fifteen cents additional for
postage, if not paid within three months us
Will Ik! charged. A paper can be discontinued
at any time by paying arrearages, and not
o Wierwi.se.
The failure to direct a discontinuance at tlie
expiration of the period subscribed for will be
•Jpeldered a new engagement. A'eto SMsa-lit
: wis must be accompanied by the CASH.
L. I). WOODRUFF,
Editor and I'libUaly,^
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 188.
_ _
TO OUR PATRONS.
This issue of the DEMOOKAT lias been
considerably delayed on accouut of plac
ing a new press and engiue in our office.
This delav was caused by the railroad
company, over which we had no control,
in not bringing our machine as promptly
as we expected from the manufacturers.
These vexatious annoyances we hope will
not occur again. The next WEEKLY
DEMOCRAT will be piiutcd on time.
Our presses and machinery were so
badly wrecked in the great flood tjiat our
paper has been very badly printed since
that time, but uow with new presses and
improved machinery we expect to print a
paper second to none in this part of the
State. We appreciate the forbearance of
our readers, and with renewed energy
and our better facilities, we hope to make
the WEEKLY DEMOCUAT a more welcome
and more worthy visitor than ever before
to our patrons.
WHAT has become of the Pan-American
delegates? No body hears {anything
about them.
SENATOR SHERMAN has formulated a
lengthy bill providing for Federal control
of Congressional elections.
Mr. Gladstone will be eighty on Decern
bfcr 29th. The Grand Old Man is as vig.
orous, intellectually and physically, as he
• was ten years ago.
ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY.
Another opportunity for some of the
wise moralizing people to get in their
work is at hand. Johnstown—poor ill
fated place—is again the subject of a
wrathful piovidence, according to the
wiseacres who know all about what they
call the operations of special prov
idences. Such persons can now in
dulge in the luxury of harniug on
doomed Johnstown with the persistency
of a Hamlet who " was st ill harping " on
old Folonius' daughter." The lise hi the
little Conemaugh that destroyed three
bridges will afford a handy text to dem
onstrate the excessive wickedness of .the
place. All adepts in seeing beams in
other people's eyes, can descant upon the
judgments of Heaven. They can easily
assume that heavy ruins prevailed in the
Conemaugh valley only, and that£the
bridges swept away were costly as well
as models of strength.
But in the eyes of sensible people nolli
iug could he more natural than the de
struction of such frail structures as
spanned the Conemaugh at Woodvale, at
the mouih of Walnut street, and down at
Cambria City, hi the name of reason,
don't charge Providence with doing
Want nature could not help but do.
.1 NOTKI> LAWTKU GIIM:.
The sad suicide of so brilliant a law/er
sis Mr. Franklin B. Gowen, in Washing
■ ton, the other day, is not only the occa
sion of unfeigned sorrow, but one that is
involved in a mystery so profound as to
baffle all attempts to account for the rash
net. Apparently there is no conceivable
reason for such a taking off of a life so
distinguished and useful as his. The
usual reasons for suicidal ucts, such as
financial embarrassments, family trouble,
"or woman at the bottom," intemperate
habits, bad company and delicate health,
seemingly have no place in his case. His
position at the bar, his success in his pro
fession and his pleasant and prosperous
suiroundings were of the kind as are usu
ally thought to make life worth living.
In the absence of any known cause, tiie
conclusion jumped at is that the act was
the result of insanity, on the ground that
no sane pcrsou ever commits suicide.
liut this, though H generally received
fact, admits of a doubt. Men perfectly
saue to avert exposure, as well as threat
ened bodily calamities have been known
to suicide. Others who have attempted
the act, hut have been thwarted in their
efforts, have given testimony that they
were perfectly sane when they tried to
commit the act. Again : Insanity and
suicide are by no means as closely linked
together, as the theory that insanity lends
to suicide supposes. Instead of
the lives and conduct of insane per
sons proving the theory to be correct,
they rather prove the contrary. "While
sonic insnne persons have
own lives, the overwhelming
such unfortunates drag out many long
years of existence. The most that can be
said in n case like Mr. G.'s is, that it is a
mystery too deep to lie fathomed, unless
subsequent discoveries throw light upon
it.
THE ABSOLUTE MONARCH.
4. mighty king, long, long ago,
With voice of grief and face of woe
To bis court wizard did complain:
"Sir Wizard, 1 am said to reign.
But what with councilors and hordes
Of bishops, judges, generals, lord*,
l'rlnio ministers and those they call
The people, 1 have no right at all
To call my life my own. They talk
Of duty, laws and charters, balk
My wishes, dog my steps, torment
My every hour with precedent,
State tactics and prerogative,
Till 1 would rather die than live
I bid thee, then—lf aught 1 hold
Of royal power to bid—be bold;
Take thou my crown, 1 grudge it not,
And give me in exchange a lot,
1 care not how confined It be,
Wherein is absolnto sovereignty "
Then groaned the wizard sad, but still
Received the crown against his will.
And swift, with wand and astrolabe, he
Transformed the king into a baby I
—AJUOS K. Wells in Wide Awake
Improved In Jail.
Every time a batch of jail prisoners are
arraigned in the criminal court I am
struck by the vast improvement in their
personal appearance that a few months'
confinement gives them. In 09 cases out
of 100 they are a coarse, brutal, heavy
drinking class, and show their low
habits in their faces. In the jail they
get the whisky out of their skins, the so
called jail pallor leaves their faces clear
and white, and more or less refined, and
they make a better impression upon a
jury than they certainly would if brought
to trial when first arrested. A striking
case in point was Sanders, the dog
catcher, who killed Police Officer Printz.
When he was first put in jail he was
about the toughest, bloated and alto
gether brutalized specimen of humanity
I had ever seen. Eight months later lie
was brought to trial. It was almost im
possible to recognize in the pale, finely
drawn features of the quiet, self pos
sessed and intelligent talking prisoner
the hoodlum of the previous year. His
appearance made such a good impression
that he got oil' with a two years' sen
tence, when I believe if the same jury
had seen him as I did he would have
been sent up for life.—Circuit Attorney
in St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
His Tribute.
Old Peter Rice, for many years a resi
dent of a certain New England village,
was one of those unwise and unjust men
who never praise their wives, and who
do not seem to realize how blessed they
are in the way of companions until
death comes suddenly to leave them des
olate and uncared for.
Olfl Peter's kindly, uncomplaining and
unappreciated wife died suddenly one
day, and Peter came at once to a realiz
ing sense of her many virtues, and was
evidently filled with a longing to prove
to his friends that he was not blind to
his wife's perfections.
This desire increased as the hour for
the funeral services drew near, and when
all the friends had assembled at the
house Peter touched the hearts as well as
the palates of those present by suddenly
appearing with a huge yellow bowl piled
high with doughnuts in his hands.
Passing from one to the other of iiis
friends ho said with tearful earnestness:
"Have one; they are the very last of
my pore Maricr's bakin', and they can't
be beat—no, they can't! Pore, pore
Marier!"—Detent Free Press.
Wrongly Translated.
The story is tin old one of the party of
tired travelers who entered a house decor
ated by a peculiar sign and demanded
oysters.
"Tliis is not a restaurant," said "te
courteous gentleman who met them. "I
am an aurist."
"Isn't that an oyster bung outside the
door'.'" asked one.
"No, gentlemen, it is an ear."
A body of sailors from an American
vessel, stopping at Samoa, went to tl>e
German consulate and demanded dinner.
"This is not a hotel," said the offended
domestic official who met ttiem.
"Well, if it isn't a restaurant, what's
that black fowl hung out for? Ain't it a
sign?" inquired the spokesman.
The "sign" was the German eagle, thp
consular coat of arms.—Youth's Com
panion.
'Hint Sutlslied Him.
"Last Monday morning," lie began, in
a solemn voice, "last Monday morning I
stopped here and ordered a large list of
groceries. Today is Thursday, and they
have not come up yet!"
"They haven't! Oh, yes, I remember
now," replied the grocer.
"What's the excuse?"
"You tire owing us $lO and we can fill
no further order until that is paid."
"Is that it?"
"It is."
"Then it is all right. 1 didn't know
but one of your horses was sick—a wagon
smashed up —forgetful clerk, or some
thing of that sort. That makes it all
right."—Detroit Free Press.
Cleanliness a modern Virtue.
The English upper classes are clean,
but cleanliness of any high degree is a
very modern virtue among them. It is
an invention of the Nineteenth century.
Men and women born at the close of the
Eighteenth century did as the French
people do today; they took a warm bath
occasionally for cleanliness, and they
took shower baths when they were pre
scribed by the physician for health, and
they bathed in summer seas for pleasure,
but they did not wash themselves all
over every morning. However, the new
custom took deep root in England, be
cause it became one of the signs of class.
It was adopted as one of the habits of a
gentleman.—Pall Mall Budget.
Two Gaines.
Little Johnnie —Le's play stage robber.
You come alone and I'll spring out with
a pistol and take away everything you've
got.
Little Jiutmie —But we haven t got no
pistol nor uutli'n like a stagel Tell you
what; when you come along I'll get you
to sign a paper and then I can rob you
just the same without a pistol.
"All right, we'll play 'Loan Agent,*
if yon l' l •> it hotter."—Texas Sittings.
• A THUNDER STORM AT NIGHT.
The lightning U the shorthand of the storm
That tells of chaos; and I read the same
As one may read the writing of a name-
As one in hell may see the suddeu form
Of God's forefinger pointed as in blame.
How weird cUe scene! The dark is sulphur warm
Willi bints of death; and in their vault euorme
The reeling stars coagulate in flame
And now the torrents from their mountain beds
Roar down unoheck'd; and serpents shaped of
mist
Writhe up to heaven with unforbidden heads;
And thunder clouds, whose lightnings inter
twist.
Rack all the sky, and tear it into shreds.
And shake the air like Titans that have kiss'd.
—Eric Mackay
SWEPT BY THE SEA.
[Last Island is off the mouth of the
Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was once the fashionable watering
place of the aristocratic south. Today
it is a desolate waste, visited only by
fishermen. |
Thirty years ago, Last Island lay
steeped in the light of magical days.
July was dying; for weeks no fleck of
cloud had broken the heaven's blue
dream of eternity; winds held their
breath; slow wavelets caressed the bland
brown beach with a sound as of kisses
and whispers.
The wind began to blow with the pass
ing of July. It blew from the northeast,
clear and cool. It blew in enormous
sighs, dying away at regular intervals,
as if pausing to draw breath. All night
it blew, aud in eacli pause could be heard
the answering moan of the rising surf —
as if the rhythm of the sea molded itself
after the rhythm of the air, as if the
waving Of the water responded precisely
to the waving of the wind, a billow for
every puff, a surge for every sigh.
The August morning broke in a bright
sky; the breeze still came cool and clear
from the northeast. The waves were
running now at a sharp angle to the
shore: they began to carry fleeces, an
innumerable flock of vague green shapes,
wind driven to be despoiled of their
ghostly wool. Far as the eye could
follow the line of the beach all the slope
was white with the great shearing of
them. Clouds came, flew as in a panic
against the face of the sun, and passed.
All that day and through the night and
into the morning again the breeze con
tinued from the northeast, blowing like
an equinoctial gale.
Then day by day the vast breath fresh
ened steadily, and the waters heightened.
A week later sea bathing had become
perilous; colossal breakers were herding
in, like moving leviathan hacks, twice
the height of a man. Still the gale
grew, and the billowing waxed mightier,
nnd faster and faster overhead flew tho
tatters of torn cloud. The gray morn
ing of tho 9th wanly lighted a surf that
appalled the best swimmers; the sea was
one wild agony of foam, the gale was
rending off the heads of the waves and
veiling the horizon with a fog of salt
spray. Shadowless and gray the day
remained; there were mad hursts of lash
ing rain. Evening brought with it a sin
ister apparition, looming .through a
cloud rent in the west—a scarlet sun in
green sky. His sanguine disc, enormous
ly magnified, seemed barred like the
body of a belted planet. A moment, and
the crimson specter vanished; and. the
moonless night came.
Then the wind grew weird. It ceased
being a breath; it became a voice moan
ing across the world; hooting, uttering
nightmare sounds Whoot wlioo!
whoo! —and with each stupendous owi
cry the mooing of tlie waters seemed to
deepen, more and more abyssmally,
through all the hours of darkness. From
the northwest the breakers of tho bay
began to roll high over the sandy slope,
into the salines; the bayou broadened to
a bellowing flood. So the tumult swelled
and the turmoil heightened until morn
ing—a morning of gray gloom and whist
ling rain. Rain of bursting clouds and
rain of wind blown brine from tho great
spuming agony of the sea.
The steamer Star was duo from St.
Mary's that fearful morning. Could she
come? No one believed it—no one.
Nevertheless, men struggled to the> roar
ing beach to look for her, because hope
Is stronger than reason. .
Even today, in these Creole islands,
the advent of the steamer is the great
event of the week. There are- 110 tele
graph lines, 110 telephones; -the mail
packet is the only trustworthy medium
of communication with the outer world,
bringing friends, news, letters. Even
during tiie deepest sleep of waves and
winds there will cotne betimes tosojourn
ers in this unfamiliar arcliipolago a feel
ing of lonesomeness that is a fear, a
feeling of isolation from the world of
men, totally unlike that senseof solitude
which haunts one in the silence of
mountain: heights, or amid the eternal
tumult of lofty granitic coasts —a sense
of helpless insecurity.
The land seems. but an undulation of
the sea bed; its highest ridges do. not
rise more than the height of a man
above the salines on either 6ide; the
salines themselves lie almost level with
the level of the flood tides; the tides are
variable, treacherous, mysterious. But
when all around and above these ever
changing shores the twin vastness of
heaven and sea begin to utter the tre
mendous revelation of themselves as in
finite forces in contention, then, indeed,
this sense of separation from humanity
appalls. * * * Perhaps it was such a
feeling which forced men, on the 10th
day of August, 1556, to hope against hope
for the coming of tho Star, and to strain
their eyes anxiously toward far-off Terre
bonne. "It was a wind you,could lie
down on," said my friend,' the pilot.
"Great God!" shrieked a voice above
the shouting of the storm, "she is com
ing!" It was true. Down the Atehafa
laya, and thence through strange mazes
of bayou, lakelet and pass, by a rear
route familiar only to the best of pilots,
the frail • river craft had toiled into
Caillou bay, running close to the main
shore; and now she was heading right
for tlie island, with the wiud aft, over
the monstrous sea. On she came, sway
ing, rocking, plunging, with a great
whiteness wrapping her about like a
cloud, and moving with her moving, a
tempest whirl of spray; ghost white and
like a ghost she came, for her smoke
stacks exhaled no visible smoke the
wind devoured itl The excitement on
6hore became wild; men shouted them
selves hoarse, women laughed and cried
Every telescope and opera glass was
directed upon the apparition; all won
dered how the pilot kept his feet; all
marveled at the madness of the captain.
But Capt. Abraham Smith was not
mad. A veteran American sailor, he
had learned to know the great Giilf as
scholars know deep books by heart; he
knew lite birthplace of its tempests, the
mystery of its tides, the omens of its
hurricanes. While lying at Brashear
City he felt the storm had not yet reach
ed its highest, vaguely foresaw a mighty
peril, and resolved to wait no longer for
a lull. "Boys," he said, "we've got to
take her out in spite of hell." And they
"took her out." Through all the peril,
his men stayed by him and obeyed him.
By mid-morning the wind had deepened
to a roar, lowering sometimes to a rum
ble, sometimes bursting upon the ears
like a measureless and deafening crash.
Then the captain knew the Star was run
ning a race with death. "She'll win it,"
he muttered; "she'll stand it. * * *
Perhaps they'll have need of me to
night."
She won! With a sonorous steam chant
of triumph the brave little vessel rode at
last into the bayou, and anchored hard
by, in full view of the hotel, though not
near enough to shore to lower her gang
plank.
But she had sung her swan song.
Gathering in from the northeast, the
waters of the bay were already marbling
over the salines and half across the isl
ands; and still the wind increased its
paroxysmal power.
Cottages began to rock. Some slid
away from the solid props upon which
they rested. A chimney tumbled. Shut
ters were wrenched off; verandas demol
ished. Light roofs lifted, dropped again
and (lapped into ruin. Trees bent their
heads to the earth. And still the storm
grew louder and blacker with every hour.
The Star rose with the rising of the
waters, dragging her anchor. Two more
anchors were put out, and still she
dragged—dragged in with the flood,
twisting, shuddering, careening in her
agony. Evening fell, the sand began
to move with the wind, stinging faces
like a continuous fire of line shot; and
frenzied blasts came to buffet the
steamer forward, sideward. Then one
of her hogchains parted with a clang
like the boom of a big bell. Then an
other! Then the captain bade his men
cut away ail her upper works clean to
the deck. Overboard into the seething
went her stacks, her pilot house, her
cabins end whirled away. And the na
ked hull of tho Star still dragging her
three anchors labored on through the
darkness, nearer and nearer to the im
mense silhouette of the hotel, whose hun
dred windows were now all aflame. The
vast timber building seemed to defy tho
storm. The wind, roaring round its
broad verandas, hissing through every
crevice with tho sound and force of steaui,
appeared to waste its rage. And in the
half lull between two terrible gusts there
came to the captain's ears a sound that
seemed strange in that night of multi
tudinous terrors —a sound of music!
Almost every evening throughout the
season there had been dancing in the
great hall; there was dancing that night
also. The population of the hotel had
been augmented by tho advent of fami
lies from other parts of the island, who
found their summer cottages insecure
places of shelter; there were nearly four
hundred guests assembled. Perhaps it
was for this reason that the entertain
ment had assumed the form of a fashion
able ball. And all those pleasure seek
ers, representing the wealth and beauty
of the Creole parishes, whether from As
cension or Assumption, St. Mary's or
St. Landry's, Iberville or Terrebonne;
whether inhabitants of the multi-colored
and many-balconied Creole quarter of
the quaint metropolis, or dwellers in the
dreamy paradises of the Teche, mingled
joyously, knowing each other, feeling in
some sort akin, whether affiliated by
blood, eonnaturalized by caste, or sim
ply inter-associated by traditional sym
pathies of class sentiment and class in
terest.
Perhaps in the more than ordinary
merriment of that evening something of
nervous exaltation might have been dis
cerned —something like feverish resolve
to oppose apprehension with gayety, to
combat uneasiness by diversion. But
tire hours passed in mirthful;)ess. The
first general feeling of depression began
to weigh less and less upon tho guests.
They had found reason to confide in tho
solidity of the massive building. There
were no positive terrors, no outspoken
fears, and the new conviction of all had
found expression in the words of the
host himself: "II 11'y a rien do inieux a
faire que do s'amusor!" Qf what avail
to lament the devastation of cane fields,
to discuss the ruin of crops? Better to
seek solace in the rhythm of gracious
motion and of perfect melody than
hearken to the wild orchestra of storms;
wiser to admire the grace of Parisian
toilets, the eddy of trailing robes with
its fairy foam of lace, the ivorine loveli
ness of glossy shoulders and jeweled
throats, the glimmering of satin slippered
feet, than to watch the raging of the
flood without, or the flying of the wrack.
So the music and the mirth went on;
they made joy for themselves, those ele
gant guests; they jested and sipped rich
wines; they pledged, and hoped, and
loved, and promised, with- never a
thought of the morrow, on the night of
the 10th of August, 1850. Observant
parents were there planning for the fu
ture bliss of their nearest and dearest;
mothers and fathers of handsome lads,
litho and elegant as young pines, and
fresh from the polish of foreign univer
sity training; mothers and fathers of
splendid girls whose simplest attitudes
were witcheries. Young cheeks Hushed,
young hearts fluttered with an emotion
more puissant than the excitement of
the dance; young eyes betrayed the
happy secret discreoter lips would have
prosem-d. Shicc servants circled through
the in i t is- press, bearing dainties
and v. , 'ni s-iorf to pass.
NEW ENGLAND CONIFERS.
The Many Varieties of Beautiful and Ex
ceedingly Useful Trees.
The conifers, or cone bearing trees,
are divided into three families: The
pines, the cypresses and the yews. Of
the pines, the most common are the
white pine, the yellow or pitch pine and
the red pine. These can be readily dis
tinguished from each other by noticing
that the white pine has its leaves in clus
ters of five, the yellow in clusters of
three and tho red in clusters of two.
The white pines form symmetrical and
graceful trees, to which the yellow, in
this Latitude, with its scraggy branches
and yellowish green foliage, is an un
pleasant and striking contrast. The
cones of thede trees do not ripen till the
year after blossoming, and this is a dis
tinguishing feature between these true
pines and the other members of the pine
family—the spruces, firs and larches.
The spruces have t their leaves four sided,
and arranged around the stem, instead
of being in clusters, as in the pines. The
cones are very graceful, being suspended
near the end of the branches, and form
ing a pleasing contrast to the green of
the foliage.
The Norway spruce, though a native
of Europe, is so common here as to de
serve a place among our New England
trees, and from the time of its bright
red blossoms in the spring, during the
growth of its cones, which are purple at
first, hut change to a ricli brown, till
blossoms come again, forms a most at
tractive sight. The hemlock, or hemlock
"spruce, has small cones; the leaves, in
stead of beiugarranged around thostems,
spread in two directions, and are a bright
green above, with a silvery white be
neath. Tli is grows to be a large tree,
but is often cut back and used as an or
namental shrub, and, cared for in this
way, is one of the most graceful of
spruces. The firs are distinguished from
the spruces in that they have their cones
erect on the upper side of the brandies,
instead of pendulous. The only repre
sentative in New England is the balsam
fir, which is quite common among the
mountains.
The last member of the pine family is
tho larch. The larch is distinguished
from all other conifers by its shedding
its leaves in tho fall, and is also marked
by the bright red flowers which it bears
in the early spring. The only native
larch is the American larch or tama
rack, but the European larch is found
here quite extensively, and is a hand
somer and more graceful tree than the
native variety.
The cypress family includes the arbor
vita:, the cypress and tho juniper. The
arbor vitas is readily distinguished by
tho appressed, scale like leaves, arranged
in four rows on tho two-edged branch
lets. Tiie American variety is often
called white cedar, but the name more
properly belongs to a variety of cypress
closely resembling arbor vita;, but hav
ing a more slender spray, finer leaves,
and growing thirty to seventy feet high,
while tho arbor vita; ranges from twenty
to liftv feet.
We have two varieties of the juniper:
one known as the juniper, and the other
as red cedar. Both have a berry like
fruit, in color black, covered with a
white bloom; the juniper has awl shaped
leaves, arranged in threes, large fruit,
and is found quite commonly as a low
shrub. The red cedtir has small, scale
like leaves, small fruit, and in the east is
found as a shrub; but in the west readies
from 60 to' 90 feet in height, and fur
nishes very'durable wood of a reddish
color.
The yew has. its nut like seed sur
rounded by a disk, cup shaped around
its base, which becomes bright red and
berry like. In the United States it is
only found as a straggling bush, but iu
other countries-grows to be a large tree.
The conifers-are the most useful trees
to man. They are found in a great vari
ety of latitudes, are about ten times as
numerous as other trees, and reach a
greatheight. They furnish long, straight,
durable timber, which, owing to the res
inous matter, is impenetrable by water.
The juices give us turpentine, resin,
pitch, tar and lampblack, and the amber
of commerce also was formed from pine
resin. Some conifers have medicinal
properties; the hark of certain varieties
is used for tanning, for making paper,
and for stuffing in upholstery. The in
ner hark of one variety and the seeds of
another are articles of food. The coal
beds were formed from the conifers of
the carboniferous age. They form a
most attractive feature in the landscape,
whether found singly or in large num
bers, and through the dreary winter
months are reminders of tho summer
which is past and a prophecy of the
summer which is to come.—Annie M.
Mitchell in Springfield Homestead.
To Stttinfy Insurance C'ompuiiio*.
Have you heard the story of the rub
ber hose liought for the infirmary? It
was a coil of hose to hang in tire hall, to
be used in ease of fire. One day they
took it down in order to sprinkle the
lawn, but as soon as tho water was turned
on it burst in half a dozen places. The
infirmary directors were raging. They
took the hose- back to the rubber store
aud demanded an explanation. The pro
prietor of the store said that lie had sold
it in good faith, supposing it to be a good
article, in order to satisfy himself lie
wrote on to the manufacturer, who re
plied that the hose was simply an orna
mental article, made to hang up in fac
tories "to satisfy insurance require
ments." And so there is hose made that
is to be looked at, not used. Hero is a
big factory, and its owper, supposing
that in case of lire he can turn 011 twenty
lines ol' hose at once, is putting his trust
•in a rotten, good for nothing pipe. Bet
j ter inspect all these emergency hose lines
at once —Cincinnati Times-Star.
At Uic flt'iiiltmuit Hop.
j Miss Yv'aito (who has been a wall flow
er all tho evening)—A waltz? Mr. Hen
; derson, you are too kind!
| Mr. Henderson (host of the occasion)
—Not at all, Miss Waite. Youknowthe
performance of one's duty is sometimes
Bwee' 1 actue! pleasure.—Harper's
Baz
Toy* That Lut
Tlje doll is thousands of years old; it
has been found inside the graves of littla
Roman children, and will bo found again
by the archaeologists of a future date
among the remains of our own culture.
Tlio children of Pompeii and Hercu
laneum trundled hoops just as you and
I did; and who knows whether the rock
ing horse on which we rode in our young
days is not a lineal descendant of that
proud charger into whoso wooden flanks
the children of Francis I's time dug their
spurs.
The drum is also indestructible, and
setting time at naught across the centu
ries, it beats the Christmastide and New
Year summons that bids the tin soldier
prepare himself for war, and shall con
tinue to beat as long as there exist boy
arii# to wield the drumsticks, and
grown up people's ears to be deafened
by the sound thereof. The tin soldier
views the future with calm; he will not
lay down his arms until the day of gen
eral disarmament, and there is, as yet,
no prospect of a universal peace.
The toy sword also stands its ground;
it is the nursery symbol of the inerad
icable vice of our race—the lust for bat
tle. Harlequins, fool's-cap-crowned and
bell-ringing, are also likely to endure;
they are sure to be found among the
members of the toy world as long as
there are fools to be found among the
inhabitants of our own. Gold laced
knights, their swords at their sides, curly
locked and satin shod princesses, stal
wart musketeers, mustached and top
booted, are all types which still hold
their own. The Chinese doll is young as
yet, but she lias a brilliant future before
her.—lilac k wood's Magazine.
A Otieer Coincidence.
In Berks county, Pa., at the little vil
lage of Shillington, lives Samuel Shil
ling, a living fulfilment of a remark
able coincidence. He first saw the light
of day on Feb. 22, 1819. Beginning with
the date of his birth, it seems that the
father of his country lias kept a watch
ful eye on Samuel Shilling every day
for the past seventy years.
Shilling was married on Feb. 22 to a
woman, who, like himself, was born on
that date. Their first child—a hoy—was
born on Washington's birthday, exactly
one year to a day after their marriage,
and two years afterwards, on the same
date, twins—a boy and girl—were added
to the Washington-blessed household.
Five years rolled around, when, on the
fifth anniversary of their wedding, an
other infant, a little girl, was added to
their blessings. The fifth and sixtli child,
another pair of twins, cauie around on
schedule time two years later, exactly,
and upon the seventh anniversary*of the
wedded life begun on the natal day of
our first president.
Mr. Shilling is very proud of the luckj
coincidence that lias connected his namt
and that of his family so inseparably
with that of tlio immortal George Wash
ington.
Many remarkable stories, all true, as
far as the writer has been able to ascer
tain, have been related, but it is doubtful
if there is another ease on record where
a father, his wife and six children all
claim one birthday, and that, too, one ol
the most historical in the whole calen
dar.—St. Louis Republic.
Lord Joliu IluMftt'll.
If lie had not much pretension to exact
knowledge, his reading was wider than
that of most of his contemporaries, and
he had not merely a large acquaintance
with authors of many nations, lie had
thought on what lie read. His mind, too,
had been enlarged by intercourse with
superior men and by the opportunities of
foreign travel. Few men of bis age,
standing on the threshold of a career,
had seen so much tliat was worth seeing.
Ho had knowledge of every division of
the United Kingdom.
In London ho hsul breakfast with Mr.
Fox, he was a frequent guest at Lord
Holland's dinner table, he was acquainted
with all the prominent leaders of the
Whig party, he had beeouie a member of
Grillion's club. In Dublin (where his
father had been lord lieutenant) he had
seen all the best society; in Edinburgh
(where he was pupil of Professor Play
fair) he had mixed with all that is best
in letters. * * * Abroad his oppor
tunities had been even greater. I-Ie had
read his (Jaiuoens in Portugal, his Tasso
in Italy; he had journeyed through the
length of Spain; he had ridden with the
duke of Wellington along the lines of
Torres Vedras; he had watched a French
advance in force in the neighborhood
of Burgos. * * * He had conversed
with Napoleon in Elba.—Wal pole's Life
of Lord John Itussell.
Looking for the Twitter.
"The mortality among the domestic
animals up in our block increased great
ly last week," said a South side young
man yesterday. "One of our neighbors
owns a pretty canary bird, and his little
son has always been anxious to ascertain
the source of the bird's twitter. So the
other evening, while his father was away
at the office and his mother was down
town on a shopping expedition, the
youngster reached the cage, captured
the bird and picked off all of its pretty
yellow feathers. But he did not discover
the source of the twitter, and the bird
caught a severe cold through its loss of
drapery and died with pneumonia the
next morning. The little hoy was locked
in an upper room when his experiment
was discovered by his parents, and now
ho firmly believes that two in the bush
are of much more value than a bird in
the hand." —Chicago Herald.
Til© Buflulo in Australia.
After the lamentable experience of
this country, it is interesting to know
that there is a part of the world where
the buffalo is not only not dying out,
but increasing in numbers. Vast herds
of these animals are now running wild
over certain districts of northern Aus
tralia. The animals are said to be mas
sive and well grown, witli splendid
horns • first buffaloes were landed
at ! . ington. North Australia,
aiji 1839. —New York Com-